A shutter assembly comprises a frame and a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal louvres that are rotatably adjustable. Generally, such shutter assemblies have a rectangular frame comprised of vertically and horizontally spaced side rails. The vertical side rails have a plurality of horizontal louvres rotatably mounted between them. The tilt of the louvres can be adjusted and rotated between a closed position, in which the louvres overlap, and an opened position, in which the louvres are spaced apart. The louvres are opened and closed in unison with one another by a tilt control bar attached to the front edges of the louvres by a link. The control bar keeps the louvres uniformly oriented and adjusts the louvres in unison. If a shutter assembly has several separate groups of louvres, each of the groups of louvres has an individual louvre tilt control bar that opens and closes all louvres in the group in unison. In such multi-group shutter construction, each group of louvres can be opened and closed individually by the tilt control bar of that group without affecting tilt of the louvres in other groups. Such a multi-group shutter assembly is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,012 B1.
The use of the individual tilt control bar for each of the groups in a multi-group shutter assembly has a significant disadvantage. Thus, there is a need for a shutter assembly that includes a mechanism for adjusting tilt of all the louvres in the multi-group shutter assembly in unison, while alternatively allowing for individual tilt control of the groups of louvres in separate groups of multi-group assembly. This need may be addressed by providing a connector that connects and disconnects the tilt control bars of the separate groups of louvres. When the tilt control bars of the separate groups of louvres are connected together by a connector, the tilt of all groups of the louvres in a multi-group shutter assembly is adjusted in unison. When the tilt control bars of separate groups of louvres are disconnected, the tilt of each group of the louvres is adjusted separately from the other groups of louvres. Such a connector for a shutter assembly should have a clean, uncluttered appearance and should be a mechanism that is relatively simple to construct.